The present invention relates to juvenile vehicle seats, and particularly to a system for retaining a juvenile vehicle seat in place on a seat in a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to retainers for using vehicle shoulder belts to retain a juvenile vehicle seat in place on a seat in a vehicle.
Juvenile vehicle seats are used to transport infants and other children in automobiles and other vehicles. Vehicle lap and shoulder belts are sometimes used to retain juvenile vehicle seats in place on a seat in a vehicle. See, for example, U.S. Pat, No. 5,527,094 to Hiramatsu et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,753 to Cone, II; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,531 to Kane et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
According to the present disclosure, a juvenile vehicle seat includes a seat, a support base under the seat, and a first belt retainer coupled to the support base. The first belt retainer includes a belt receiver slot. The first belt retainer is arranged to provide a shoulder belt receiver channel located between the support base and the first belt retainer. In use, a user passes a vehicle shoulder belt into the shoulder belt receiver channel through the belt receiver slot so that the vehicle shoulder belt is positioned to help retain the seat and support base in place on a vehicle seat.
In preferred embodiments, the support base includes two support legs extending downwardly away from the seat back and the first belt retainer is coupled to an upper portion of a first of the support legs to provide the shoulder belt receiver channel. The first belt retainer includes first and second retainer arms that are cantilevered to the upper portion of the first support leg. The free ends of the first and second retainer arms are spaced apart from one another to form the belt receiver slot therebetween.
In certain embodiments, a second belt retainer is coupled to an upper portion of a second of the support legs to provide another shoulder belt receiver channel. The second belt retainer also includes two retainer arms that are cantilevered to the upper portion of the second support leg. The free ends of those two retainer arms are spaced apart from one another to form a belt receiver slot that opens into the second shoulder belt receiver channel.
In practice, only one of the belt retainers will be used at a time to receive a vehicle shoulder belt to help retain the seat and support base in place on the vehicle seat. The first belt retainer will be used with the vehicle shoulder belt on one side of the rear seat in a vehicle while the second belt retainer will be used with the vehicle shoulder belt on the other side of the vehicle""s rear seat.
If it is desired to retain the seat and support base in place on one side of the rear seat in a vehicle, the user will (1) pull the vehicle shoulder belt associated with that side of the rear seat away from the seat, (2) pass it into the first shoulder belt receiver channel through the first belt receiver slot, and (3) engage the vehicle shoulder belt on a shoulder belt receiving surface provided on a lower portion of the second support leg. The vehicle shoulder belt is buckled so that it is held fast internally in the shoulder belt receiver channel associated with the first belt retainer and externally on the shoulder belt receiving surface provided on the second support leg to retain the seat in place in the vehicle.
If it is desired to retain the seat and support base in place on the other side of the rear seat of the vehicle, then the process just described is repeated using the vehicle shoulder belt associated with that other side of the vehicle""s rear seat, the second belt retainer, and a shoulder belt receiving surface provided on a lower portion of the first support leg. In such a case, the vehicle shoulder belt is buckled so that it is held fast internally in the shoulder belt receiver channel associated with the second belt retainer and externally on the shoulder belt receiving surface provided on the first support leg to retain the seat in place in the vehicle.
Features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.